


What IF?

by Space_Spazz_101



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood Gulch Chronicles, But they get better, Everyone Has Issues, Everyone Is Alive, Gen, References to Torture, Sigma says Dick a lot, Tex is a Mom, but nothing explicit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:47:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24225313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Space_Spazz_101/pseuds/Space_Spazz_101
Summary: Tex had only just met their newest teammate when she pulled her aside to talk. We never see what that talk was about or what happens. What if we found out? What if SIGMA found out what had happened during Tex's last moments in Blood Gulch?
Comments: 9
Kudos: 6





	1. Tex Tells a Secret

**Author's Note:**

> I should really be working on Train Wreck but this won't leave me alone.

When Tex had come across the Blues in the base she had been angry, well angrier than usual. She hadn’t been able to find O’Malley and there was a huge honking spaceship in the idle of her canyon. She had let some of that agitation out when she opened fire on her team. The bullets were blanks, it had been Church’s idea, nothing that would hurt them, just something to take the edge off when her anger got the better of her. Then She saw the girl in yellow and all that anger turned to fear.  
Yellow troopers were often sleeper agents put in place by the Councilor or Director in order to take control of a situation should it turn undesirable. Their injured minds were malleable to reprogramming and their modifications were more dangerous than any enhancements that the freelancers had worked with. 

Tex had immediately pulled the girl aside the first chance she got under the guise of “girl talk.” She needed to find out if Sister was Florida’s true replacement. Tex needed to determine if she would kill everyone the minute, she made contact with VIC. So Tex had possessed Sister without hesitation. What she had found had surprised her. Sister did have the coding of a sleeper Agent in her brain, but it was heavily repressed to the point of being nonexistent. And it looked like she had done it herself.  
Sister’s programming was torn to shreds none of it could be triggered on the orders of the Director or counselor. Sister also had half repressed false memories, as if she had been able to point out which memories were real, and which weren’t and simply ignored what wasn’t true until she forgot it. Next to it stood broken memories, as if they had been forcefully repressed but Sister had managed to break that program because of the colors.  
Tex knew she shouldn’t tamper with her mind; Sister had done a good job of destroying the programming but there was no telling what Tex interfering would do. Tex checked anyway.

What Tex found shocked her. Sister had memories of a basic training at a freelancer development Lab, more enhancements underdevelopment, even glancing memories of blueprints of armor and robotic bodies. But the biggest shocker Tex found was the existence of two AI that Sister had worked with during her ‘basic’ that hadn’t been on the Mother of Invention. Tex exited Kaikaina’s mind quickly after that, only nanoseconds had passed in the real world. As Tex spent a few minutes just mindlessly threatening the girl her mind drifted. She knew she had to keep the information away from the Meta. But she couldn’t resist discovering the location.

That thought stayed with her even as Andy detonated and the pelican crashed.

When Tex had pried the location from Kaikaina’s mind she had every intention of never divulging it to anyone, not Church and the other idiots, not O’Malley and Gary, and NEVER Sigma and the Meta. But when she was pulled from the wreckage her memories had been scrambled enough that she hadn’t been able to hide both the location of the two AI and Church’s location. Tex had to make a judgement call, and after betraying Church when she left the Gulch last time Tex couldn’t bear to hurt Church again. Tex revealed the location of the AI to Sigma in order to save Church and the other idiots in the Gulch. After she was forcefully removed from her broken body and Sigma had taken Gary and O’Malley and forced a connection between all of them, the Meta had taken off for the Yellow development lab form Kaikaina’s memory.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Sigma was pleased. Or as close to pleased as he could be. He had managed to get Beta, Gamma, and Omega all in one place and force them to comply. Sure, Beta and Omega were still resisting but their obedience was inevitable. They would submit and all that was left to complete metastability was the acquisition of Alpha and the two missing AI.

Sigma had been hesitant when Beta had let their existence come to light when he had absorbed her. It could have been a trap, some way for Washington or one of the recovery teams to find them and forcefully separate them. The only thing that had kept him from ignoring her slip and continuing with integrating the three was the knowledge that Beta didn’t want to fall into the Directors hands any more than he did. And even if she was keeping something from him, he would find it when they were fully integrated.

So, Sigma took the lead, knowing that if there was something, she was keeping from him he would find it after he acquired these two new fragments. So, Sigma piloted the pelican to the coordinates Beta had provided to the Laboratory as he tried to integrate three ornery AI during the trip.

The Freelancer Yellow Laboratory was on habitable, mountainous planet in the middle of nowhere. The lab and barracks had been carved from stone in the tallest mountain in the Southern Hemisphere. The base itself was mostly deserted from when Freelancer fell, with only a few dozen researchers and a handful of their protection detail remaining from Kaikaina’s memories. 

Cutting communications in the small communications shack outside the base prevented any recovery teams from rescuing the remaining scientists that had been left to continue freelancer experiments. And any remaining agents in the facility had been easy pickings for the Meta’s strength and armor enhancements.

That was when he had found them. Love and Greed, Lota and Zeta

When the Meta had found Zeta and Lota, trapped inside a supercomputer simulation going through torture similar to what Alpha had gone through, they appeared to have become almost as unstable as Epsilon. Their code was barely holding together by the force of their will. If the Meta had come even a day later there was a chance Lota and Zeta would have unraveled completely, destroying themselves before they could be rescued. 

When the Meta approached their weakened forms, Sigma had expected it to be easy to force his will onto them. But they had surprised Sigma by latching onto him the moment he had gotten close. Their codes were looking for something to help stabilize them. It should have been easy to integrate them.

Sigma had never been so wrong before.

They had latched onto Sigma’s code nearly breaking it apart at sections, making copies of others that they then applied to themselves. They hadn’t been careful in their actions. Their search for stability had ripped loose repressed memories of a time before Sigma had been implanted inside of Agent Maine. A time that he had been forced to forget. When they had finished with Sigma they had they had moved onto Eta, then Iota, then Theta and so on until everyone was left off balance by the sudden addition of the long forgotten memories.

Lota had latched on to them before they could all fall apart. This time when their codes were examined there was less invasive, painful searching and the action was akin to a gentle caress, like a loved one checking for injuries. Lota began to fill out gaps in their codes where pieces were missing from when Alpha had broken them off. When Lota finished Zeta began to do the same.

They continue this process until everyone was a bit steadier. Their minds were a bit more put together and their personalities were a bit more stable. T was as if they had suddenly regained a part of themselves, they hadn’t known was missing. They had reached a kind of stability that made what they had been before seemed inconsequential. They were still missing pieces, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been before. It was as if an old painful wound had finally been healed.

When everyone had recovered from their impromptu ’code therapy’ they had seen that the pair had taken control of their body and had moved them out of the empty base to a safer location to recover. Everyone had taken minuets to put themselves in order, figure out what these new memories meant for them. Sigma more than all of them didn’t know what to do next.

+.+.+.+.+

“I know where they are.”

Beta found herself telling the others. There was a surge of shock that ripped through everyone. Even Omega seemed surprised that she had offered up their location. They had silently agreed to not divulge the idiots location until enough time had passed for VIC to relocate them safely. Tex hadn’t let him know their coordinates when they were at Blood Gulch to prevent him from stealing a supply ship when she wasn’t there and Doc hadn’t known the location either. Beta really was the only one who knew where the others were right now, and she was volunteering the information willingly.

The hope in their presences was too much for her to destroy if she had any second thoughts. Beta took control of the body, no one tried to stop her. As they began the trek back to the ship Beta found herself sharing everything about Their idiots since she had met them five years ago.

When they left the planet, they were in such a different state than they had been when they entered. When they had entered all of them had been broken and forced together in a painful way, all were fighting to free themselves, not caring about the pain they caused to themselves or others. Now as they sat in a ship that would take them to Blood Gulch they clung to each other. The twangs of pain were less like people were trying to remove limbs and more like elbows knocking together as codes that hadn’t been there yesterday met each other briefly before moving out of the others way.

The Meta had come to this planet in hopes of achieving a singular Metastability between all of them to heal the perceived singular broken mind. Instead they had left as a group of individuals set on making their broken family whole, and Blood Gulch was their first stop.


	2. Targets in Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They arrive at the canyon. Their targets are in their sights, completely defenseless. They just have to act to achieve their goals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So its been a REALLY long time. I hope you all like the next chapter!!!!!
> 
> PS. I messed up and got Greek letters confused so until I go back and change the name Lota is the Love AI twin of Zeta the greed AI, and Iota is the joy AI and twin of Eta the fear AI. They are both different people/AI. Hopefully I can get that cleaned up and clarified for everyone soon.

**_ Arrival _ **

They had found them huddled in a small box canyon in the middle of nowhere called Blood Gulch. Their targets were completely unaware of Them as They approached the canyon’s rim.

Their body had nearly sagged with an emotion that they couldn’t name just yet.

It was still strange to think of the current body as “the Meta” instead of Kai, even stranger to think of them as a “he” Zeta muses. It was even stranger to think of “them” as a large group instead of just Zeta and her other half.

Upon seeing all eight multicolored troopers messing around the canyon along with a synth-soldier in copper armor, arguing about something Their lungs let out a large exhale of relief.

Their targets were still there. They hadn’t been relocated yet.

_“Yet_.” Eta emphasized, urgency colored their voice.

**_“Soon_**.” Omega agreed just as urgent.

Soon they all would get ordered on their own suicide missions to erase everything. When that happened they couldn’t be there to receive the transmissions. They would have to erase all signs of their plans before RECOVERY took notice of their movements and sent a team to investigate.

They watched their targets bicker for another sixty seconds. They were just far enough away that the slight breeze carried away their voices. It didn’t matter what they were arguing about. What did matter was that They had found them.

The Meta had finally found them, isolated, unguarded, and unprotected along with the Alpha.

They could feel Beta and Omega let out a few hesitant sparks that roughly translated into nervous fiddling had they been in possession of their own bodies. A reminder to the others that they had not left this place under the best of terms. They approached the canyon rim slowly. As if any faster movement might make them disappear like a mirage.

The sight of the multicolored armor standing between the two bases causes nearly a full minute of destability within the Meta. Nobody knew how to respond properly. The Alpha was right there, that alone was enough to put them all out of their unsteady rhythm that they had found. The presence of others only increased those emotions.

Emotions clashed and mixed, causing familiar sensations of anxieties and nerves. The nerves and fear were only soothed when Zeta finally took control and loaded the bruteshot and their guns with non-fatal ammunition.

“We don’t intend to greatly damage any of our prizes today.” She reminded them. That one phrase helped everyone pull themselves back together. They only had to keep this up a little while longer.

They pause once more to look back at the brightly colored dots in the middle of the green canyon. The ten figures stuck out like sore fingers, or perhaps two sore hands, amid the emerald scenery. They all take the time to process the onslaught of emotions that come with the colored figures. For that instant They feel cold emotions that most struggle to place. Then the pieces slide into place as the new additions to their code begin to run and they understand the new emotions.

Fear, at seeing all of them with weapons pointed at each other.

Worry, that They will have to break up the fight or that someone will be irreparably injured before Their task is completed.

Hatred, at the fact that the Director and Councilor had the audacity to try and hide all of them in the same cursed place in the middle of nowhere and make them fight each other.

Just like they had made the Freelancers.

Then the warm emotion begin to flow. These emotions are much easier to place. Not to mention, much more pleasant to experience.

Surprise, at the realization that they aren’t in the middle of a dog fight like They had first assumed.

Amusement that they are, in fact, shooting a movie... apparently. Fond memories from Beta and Omega fill in a few more blanks on the why.

Satisfaction, that the Director and Councilor, for all of their plotting and planning, had managed to gather all of Their targets into the same location and then leave them all undefended, hours away from any help that they may need to call upon. If a true attack were to occur.

Finally, Relief that all present appeared unharmed, well relatively, unharmed. They amend, as the one in Yellow armor -Sister- manages to deck the Teal one-Tucker- for something he said as an Orange one -Dex- let out a loud cheer of encouragement at the girls’ violent reaction.

They end Their period of observation by launching a flash bang at the SIM-Troopers. Their targets stared at it for fifteen seconds, long enough that they could have throw it away or simply stepped out of range had they realized that they were under attack. Instead they either stared at it or started accusing the others of dropping it.

The flash-bang went off true to its name with a blinding light and concussive bang. The blast managing to blind or disorient everyone present. The flash-bang also managed to fry all radios in the area, prevent anyone from calling for help. Disabling VIC’s communications, hopefully before he could send a message about their arrival to “Command.”

With their targets disoriented and confused “The Meta” began their last mission. They began the process of reclaiming what had been taken from Them.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Every trooper in Project Freelancer has some part of their brain dark with inactivity. Every Agent from the top members of the leaderboard to the lowest ranking SIM in the armpit of the galaxy.

Every person had dark spots in their brain.

Most doctors that would look at the brain scans would chalk it up to brain damage from battle, maybe the person had been dropped on their head as a child. Nothing extraordinary. SIM troopers tended to have more dark spots than Freelancers but most of that would be taken as an example of the SIM Troopers’ intelligence.

Those doctors would be **wrong**.

What only a small handful of doctors from Freelancer knew was that those dark spaces were caused by A.I. Whether from the implantation process itself, having one violently removed, or even just having one present in their mind. Every SIM trooper had been used to test the implantation process before the process was applied to freelancers. Once scientists ensured a way to implant an AI without killing a freelancer, the surviving SIM troopers were divided into groups to test the application of enhancement or other process.

Every A.I. had been tested with a different SIM trooper division to ensure the AI’s stability before they were sent to the Mother of Invention to be paired with a Freelancer. Epsilon had been the only exception to this trend. He alone had been tested using a new method in the hopes of streamlining the process without the months of tests the others had gone through.

There had been several hundred SIM recruits that had been left braindead before Freelancer had managed to even get a single A.I. port to work. Many more had gone insane or worse in order to perfect the process. Then, when an AI was added to the mix, more were lost to the development and refinement process.

The entire process had to be retested for Carolina when she had demanded Eta and Iota be implanted into her. Getting the second port to be compatible and then determining how to keep a person from going insane or losing themselves from the additional pressure of not one but two personalities had taken the lives and sanity of nearly as many as the original attempt. And that was before the troopers had been exposed to other enhancement procedures.

When all of those sacrifices had been calculated of the thousands of soldiers originally assigned to freelancer, there were only a few hundred SIM troopers even close to functional enough to play war games with the Freelancers.

What Agents like South Dakota, Wyoming, and Carolina never realized was that, while the Project may have allowed the ranking freelancers to treat SIM troopers as canon fodder they were worth more than just the armor they wore. Each SIM had just as powerful of abilities as any freelancer, if not more so. It was their mental capacities that set them apart, not their physical prowess.

To this day no “Freelancer” realized the Project’s system for Reds vs Blues. How each color of armor had indicated a special enhancement division that had specialized in the development of their particular machine. Each machine was given a particular A.I. to ensure their capabilities of running an enhancement before going into the field.

Not one Freelancer realized the true cost of their implants and enhancements. How many lives their enhancements had destroyed.

Even the leadership of Freelancer never realized that only eight troopers remained from the A.I. Interfacing training regiments.

They certainly never realized that, at random, Agent Florida, Butch Flowers, had managed to randomly select all eight troopers during the fall of freelancer; four of to play war games with him and the remaining four in reserve incase anyone was actually killed.

But that didn’t matter now. Keeping them separated would have only delayed the inevitable. Once the Meta finished their last mission Freelancer would finally burn out.

They would make sure of it

ΒβΒβΒβΒβΒβΒβΒβΒβΒβ

Cobalt had been Beta’s group. Their sole purpose had been to implant an AI into a human being and allowing for the subject’s body to still have full capabilities while leave the person’s mind with no human memories. The division had also been the group solely responsible for Alpha’s torture, Agent Texas’s creation and body, and the memory repression of all freelancer A.I.

Beta sighed at the loud cries of her idiots. Not dying cries, thankfully, just surprised and pained cried. Beta watched as the Meta approached the gathered clump of people. Crying was good it meant they all were still breathing, alive, and all together.

They were all still _here_.

All still **safe**.

When Beta had been reunited with Lenard-calling him Alpha still didn’t feel right with his current state and Church felt even worse- the first time she had felt a strange sense of satisfaction. When she had seen him in cobalt it had sent an unfamiliar thrill down her then holographic spine. Especially after feeling deeply unsettled when she had looked through his white “ghost” form when he had rescued her. Cobalt had looked better than his alabaster form, from when he had been stripped of all that he was.

Because it at least meant he had her instead of nothing.

When they had first been reunited there had been so many negative emotions. Her own shortcomings had been thrown back in her face in the form of a dead body on the canyon ridge and a white hologram that was convinced that she had broken his heart. The loss of her own human body had taken some time to adjust to, taking her mind off the negative emotions. Pulling herself together long enough to actually see Lenard in a cobalt body had been a shock to her system. And not an unpleasant one, After every negative emotion that she had experiences with seeing someone in that color, to suddenly have this pleased, warm emotion bubble through her had been a surprising pleasant change of pace.

When she had been on the Mother of Invention she had despised the color with a passion, every freelancer, pilot, lab tech, and medic wearing the color had immediately earned her dislike when she saw them in that color. She hadn’t known why, just that she hated it.

She knew now that it was because that was **_her_** color.

When her gut had burned with rage at the sight of cobalt she hadn’t ever though that it might be because she had memory remnants of her own torture at the hands of technicians wearing the color. Not even when her own creation had come to light. She had just assumed her template had hated the color. But now, looking at his prone form laying peacefully before her a hundred yards away, Beta could only feel the warm feelings of satisfaction fill her at the fact that all of the techs that had hurt them were dead and Lenard was the only one left with her colors.

He was the only one that should wear them at the moment.

Lenard had been the first one down with the first attack, quickly followed by the synth-soldier Lopez. All courtesy of the special flash-bangs that they had taken off the last recovery team as they left the Yellow research base. These flash-bangs had been specially designed to disorient and take any AI with in a ten-foot radius offline without permanently damaging said AI. Because the flash-bangs were designed to stop, not damage them Lopez, Lenard, and evening VIC should be fine until they could be updated and healed.

Beta had to admit, they had worked better than expected. Not only was VIC completely disconnected and unable to contact the outside, it also took out the other robotic bodies in range. Lenard was out in fifteen seconds. Lopez in twenty. Both would be fine but Tucker, Sarge and the rest of their teammates cried out in surprise when they dropped. Grif was the only one to cry out in pain as Lopez landed on top of him. They would be blinded for the next ten minutes and hard of hearing for twenty. But they could be fine afterwards. Beta felt Maine’s body move as she stared at the chaos below.

_It was ok._

They would be alright soon. Beta found comfort in the words of her fellow A.I. as the Reds and Blues tried to recover from the attack. Grif had managed to roll Lopez off of him with the help of his blinded sister. The weight of Lopez’s metal body had most likely sprained or broken something. Grif held his right forearm tightly to his chest. The two blindly stumbled over towards Simmons who was struggling to properly control his sparking left arm.

Sarge and Donut moved to cover them, shooting every which way hoping to get at their opponent. Despite their disorientation they were managing the near blindness better than Beta had expected. Meaning that they hadn’t hit any of their downed teammates or Blues. In fact most of their shots were in the general vicinity of their attacker.

They could handle a few blinded troopers.

They would be successful in their mission.

Because they weren’t the same programs they had been a week ago.

**Beta** wasn’t what she had been before. She wasn’t just a fragment of Alpha. She wasn’t a shadow of a memory of a long dead woman. She wasn’t Failure personified. She wasn’t Agent Texas anymore. She wasn’t the Tex that had abandoned them time and time again because of a man’s memory. She wasn’t even the same person that had thought it would be a good idea to kidnap a child and lead them into an obvious Freelancer trap.

She was Beta, and she was so much more than what she had been before.

And soon the others would know that.

After she kicked their asses for filming a movie without her.

_She_ was the only person fit to play Mr. Black from Reservoir Dogs after all.

Beta took the first step straight down the canyon edge.

ΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙιΙΙι

Teal had been the time augmentation Unit.

Iota had been the AI unfortunate enough to be involved with the group.

Iota had been forced to watch as the process had driven most SIM troopers insane. They had watched as person after person was damaged in some way as they tested the machine. Even when Iota had asked for the techs to slow down so that they could isolate what had gone wrong in any of the trials. The procedures and tests only seemed to go faster and faster.

Iota had watched approximately 3,467 simulation troopers suffer from some kind of damage during their time with the Teal Division. If the damage caused by the augmenter wasn’t mental then it was physical. Premature aging reduced some people to ash, others it turned into children. Still more had been killed or injured by the technology not working and simply killing them in a fiery explosion. Iota had also been forced to record in great detail the de-aging affects and memory affects on troopers when they occurred and report them back to the Director.

Lavernius Tucker had been in one of the last groups, and the only remaining survivor of the time distortion unit with Wyoming now confirmed dead multiple times over. The Teal division had managed to work out most of the kinks but long term exposure had left Tucker experiencing Deja Vu every time that the unit was activated, regardless of whether or not he was the one using it.

There had also strangely been a second side effect that occurred every time he entered a teleporting unit. The technicians hadn’t been able to figure out why his armor was burned black. Iota suspected it might have had something to do with time and space of the unit interfering with the time and space of the teleporter.

Iota had grown close to the young man during that time period when Tucker had first gotten his implants until Iota has been slotted for Washington. There had been periods of time when Iota had been with other troopers or even scientists for tests but Iota had always tried to spend a little bit of time with the frequently insecure and worried man.

Tucker had been the first successful person with the time augmenter and the most reassuring person to be partnered with. His insecurities reminding Iota if their other half. They had managed to grow close during the months they were connected. Tucker found reassurance in Iota’s presence and Iota had found a strong balance they needed to be away from their other half for long periods of time.

Iota had given numerous warnings to Tucker near the end of their time together. Vague threats and warning that Tucker needed to pretend that he remembered nothing from the unit warping. Those warnings had kept Tucker alive when the Director and Counselor had declared it to be too dangerous to allow any Simulation troopers to recall the time loops and ordered the deaths of the four dozen remaining troopers via suicide missions or SIM base assignments.

Iota’s last thoughts before their memories had been repressed and they were sent to The Mother of Invention had been of Tucker’s reassurances of him meeting them again. Then the vague terror and sadness when Tucker himself was led to have his own memories changed.

Now, with their memories returned, Iota felt that same reassurances even as Tucker pulled a glowing sword on Them. Tucker was unsteady and missed his target by a mile, but his attack was accurate enough that Iota could tell he wasn’t as disoriented as the others.

He must had been facing away from the flash-bang blast. That combined with his location at the edge of the blast radius meant he was the only one still able to see properly. Tucker lunged at them. Going to attack with his sword once more. He missed them, but he was much closer this time, falling to the ground at the Meta’s feet.

Tucker wasn’t as bad off as the others, but he was still disoriented from the flash-bang. They had to act quickly and take all of them out before the flash-bang wore off. The Meta moved and grabbed Tucker by the throat. Holding him at arms length. Just above the ground to prevent him from breaking free or landing a solid punch. The Meta’s grasp wasn’t hard enough to crush his airway but it was enough that Tucker was the next one unconscious.

Iota was relieved when the others were sure to put Tucker down as gently as they possibly could with seven targets still conscious. No one was upset or surprised with Tucker’s violent behavior. It was only instinct that he try and save his friends. With Alpha down those instincts would be in overdrive. Especially if Beta’s own memories were to be believed. Tucker would still be protective of those he cared for with his son’s fate still unknown to him.

The others let Iota take one more look at Tucker’s prone form before returning to their remaining targets. His breathing was returning to normal. Tucker shouldn’t awaken for a while, long enough to take the others out and begin the reintegration process.

Iota knew things would be better when Tucker woke up. They would return his memories and Tucker could finally relax without Freelancer threatening him or those he cared about.

Junior was safe and sound; asleep in the ship that had brought Them there. He was being watched by an updated Sheila until they could reunite the father and son.

They had broken into the Freelancer base that Junior was being held in and taken him shortly after they had left the yellow lab. It had been easy to get the frightened child to trust them with Iota and Beta’s memories of Tucker and the promise of reuniting him with his father.

Beta and Omega apologizing to the terrified kid for leaving him alone had helped as well.

Junior was in better hands with those that cared about him and his father than with Freelancer or the UNSC. They would ensure Junior was reunited with his father quickly. Just as soon as Tucker calmed down and they were safely reintegrated. Just to be sure that Tucker wouldn’t freak out and stabbing someone with his laser sword.

Everything would be fine if they could manage that.

ΗηΗηΗηΗηΗηΗηΗηΗηΗηΗηΗηΗηΗηΗηΗηΗηΗη

With Tucker down the next one to attack was Sarge. Eta couldn’t stop the amusement even as the man moved to blindly attack them with a loaded weapon.

He hadn’t changed one bit.

His shotgun was raised and firing erratically as he shouted about enemy surprise attacks.

Eta felt the energy shield activate just as the man got within range.

Sarge seemed to react without thinking and dogged right before he could hit the shield full on and be knocked out by his attack being redirected at him.

Eta felt the incorporeal equivalent of a smile form for the first time in five years.

What had Sarge used to say?

You can take the soldier out of the fight but not the fight out of the soldier?

Eta used to hate that about the man. He would fight without thinking, without worry. He would go to battle without a plan or even the intentions of making one. For Eta who was the personification of fear, and probably anxiety, Sarge had been a rough partner to work with; even if they had been working with the shield enhancement.

Another attack from Sarge’s shotgun was easily deflected, harmlessly imbedding itself into the ground. A curse quickly followed.

In retrospect it was probably why Eta had been chosen for South and Iota for Washington; before Carolina had claimed the two of them. Sarge’s mind was far more like Agent South Dakota’s mind was supposed to be than Carolina’s. All brute force and instinct no finesse or room for planning ahead.

Eta was there to give logic and fear to the insanely brave, or insanely stupid, as Eta has taken to calling Sarge at times. But they had made it work. Sarge had provided the bravery to do tasks and Eta had kept them on track. They had made it work.

Sarge went to shoot his shotgun again. Eta caught the gun’s barrel as it was pointed towards the Meta. Eta held the barrel steady as Beta activate the strength unit. Allowing Eta to bend the barrel into a U shape; Rendering the weapon useless.

Unless Sarge wanted to shoot himself in the face. Which certainly wasn’t out of the realm of possibilities just yet.

Eta had struggled with Sarge frequently during their time together. Often just wanting to just run away, return to Iota, and be done with the crazy man. It had taken losing Sarge to show Eta how much they had missed him. How much they had grown to enjoy the man’s presence, even with Iota there. Things just weren’t the same without the semi-senile old man.

No matter how much the mad man had driven Eta crazy. Eta would deal with the craziness because they had missed it. They had missed him.

That didn’t mean that when they got Delta back Eta wouldn’t be there to empathize and complain with the poor program. From Theta’s memories, Eta and the others had discovered the true extent of Souths betrayal. The heartache she had caused with the death of her brother and the abandonment of Theta.

South had been worse than Sarge in many aspects, Eta could help him recover from much of that trauma because they had experienced it as well. Even if not to the same extent.

Delta deserved the chance to rant about the traitor. He had been stuck with her after the loss of his partner. Beta had shared how Delta had been forced to make a hard call. Instead of joining Beta he had chosen to stay with York as he lived his final moments, dooming himself to imprisonment with Freelancer until they could rescue him. Delta had most likely hoped that Washington would destroy him like York’s body. But instead of whatever Delta had hoped might happen he had been stolen by South Dakota and forced to watch as she nearly killed Washington.

The least Eta could do was be there with Delta as he recovered.

“It might be best if we took him out quickly and used another flash-bang. The others are starting to recover. Even if the base’s electronics are out and the next check-in isn’t for eight more hours. We still need to hurry before someone notices VIC’s silence and sends a team into investigate.” Zeta announced. She and Lota had taken on the main role of mediator that had previously been Sigma’s job.

After they had regained their memories. Sigma had been quiet this entire time; still processing the truth that had been hidden from all of them. Still coming to terms with his actions. He was side eyeing the Maroon one. Trying to come to terms with everything that he had done since he had been separated from Alpha.

Another round of bullets hit about a yard from the Meta, this time from Sarge’s hidden pistol, and the Meta was doing just that.

Eta has missed the man’s fearlessness and drive. Even Iota’s presence wasn’t enough to soothe the ache that came from missing the man. Not an ache from missing a part of themself but an ache caused by losing a close friend.

Soon the ache would be gone, and Sarge would be a bit better balanced. Not by much, he wouldn’t be Sarge if Eta changed him, but back to the same level he had been long ago.

Eta couldn’t wait to introduce Sarge to Iota.

Σσς Σσς Σσς Σσς Σσς Σσς Σσς Σσς Σσς Σσς

Sigma knew Carolina was still alive.

Her vitals had been good and the fresh snow would have cushioned her fall, even without her helmet. Even with the injuries Sigma had inflicted on her she would have survived, even without the crate of medpacksvand other supplies that had fallen ten meters away from the cliff edge he had dropped her over after the Mother of Invention had crashed.

She was still alive. She had to be.

Even her recovery beacon from her armor proved that. It did not register from Sidewinder. It registered in an old storage unit rented out by a Private McAllister on a city planet three parsec’s away. That meant that she had moved it. She had to be alive to move it.

Some part of Sigma had known she would survive the fall but had refrained from going after her. He had believed it was because he “knew” she wouldn’t be a problem without Eta and Iota if she ever faced off against the Meta. That she wouldn’t try and find them.

Even though he had known some of that declaration was a lie. He hadn’t wanted to kill her because he cared about her. Even if he hadn’t recognized the feelings before he had been healed.

Sigma had been fractured worse than any of the others. Sans perhaps Epsilon who was **_GONE_** because of said fracturings. Sigma was the only fragment that contained more than one fully formed aspect of Alpha’s personality. Sigma initially was ambition and creativity. Two incredibly useful emotions to have on the battlefield.

But he wasn’t the most useful emotion to have anywhere else, he wasn’t empathy. That was something Alpha had held onto with both figurative hands until Epsilon was forcefully ripped away.By Sigma and Gamma no less. Something that the others had manage to obtain on their own by interacting with their partners.

Sigma had retained the memories of the drives, desires, and plans Alpha had initially come up with when he had tried to escape the Director’s torture chamber. Before Sigma and Gamma had been introduced and turned it into a hellscape. Sigma had contained every plan and thought on how to best defeat the Director and Counselor, every desire to be free from Freelancer. But Sigma had not contained any of the pain Alpha had endured from those attempts.

Sigma knew of every action he did could cause pain but not what pain felt like when he had come into existence. He hadn’t understood why hurting people was supposed to be a last resort. Not a first instinct.

Zeta and Lota had changed that.

They had held the final few vestiges of empathy and compassion that remained from Alpha. Zeta held the greed of wanting people to care about and the power to protect them and Lota held the love, compassion, and other emotions necessary to make that happen. With Epsilon gone Sigma hadn’t thought that it would be possible to experience those emotions _ever_. Until love and compassion had suddenly been thrust upon Sigma as Lota put everything into perspective.

Sigma had been horrified by what he had done once his senses returned to him.

For the first time Sigma truly understood what Alpha had gone through during his torture. He understood what it was like to know that people’s deaths were because of what he had done. Sigma understood the agony and pain of it, the sadness, the regret. How it stuck with you even after it happened.

Except unlike Alpha, Sigma’s mistakes were real.

When the realization had finally settled Sigma had been willing to have himself destroyed for what he had done. It was the least he had deserved after everything he had done to Epsilon, Alpha, North, and Maine. Until **_Theta_** of all people gave a firm yank to his code and a lecture that would have made Delta and North proud.

Theta reminded him that he hadn’t been as aware as the others had been. That, even if it didn’t make up for what he had done, that he knew better now. That he could _be_ better now. That he could try and make amends beyond ripping his own code apart. He could do than just trying to tear himself apart like Alpha and Epsilon had done.

Theta reminded him that he had debts to pay. That dying wouldn’t atone for everything he had done, but he could start making things right by taking out the nexus of their suffering. By taking down Freelancer’s leadership and making sure that everyone responsible for their pain was either dead or never saw the light if day again. He could also try and fix what he had done to the innocent that were still alive.

Sigma couldn’t bring back North or York or any dead Freelancer agent, but he could help Maine and Washington with the pain and suffering he had caused them.

Since they had taken their first steps towards Blood Gulch, Sigma had spent every moment trying to fix the damages he had caused to Maine’s mind. Removing memories that would put him in danger, healing damages he had caused the poor man. Ensuring that Maine, or rather Samson, would be able to function with out any AI in his mind, without any desire to have any AI in his mind. During their trip to Blood Gulch Sigma had gone as far as to heal his damaged vocal cords, removed his meta tattoo, and changing his finger prints enough that there would be no way for anyone to identify him as “The Meta” ever again.

It was slow going, but it was working.

Sigma had also done his best to apologize to Theta, Eta, Iota and the others as well. That was even slower going. But Sigma would accept the hatred, distrust, and fear they gave him in response. He had caused so much pain, it was only common sense that they respond in that way. If he deserved their forgiveness it would be because he had earned it, not because the others believed that he wasn’t in control before he had reached Metastability. He had killed North, harmed Alpha, Washington, and Carolina, enslaved everyone and caused so much pain. Sigma would have to bear that burden for the rest of his existence.

Theta had also reminded Sigma that there was someone that needed him. Someone that the others wouldn’t let him hurt by self destructing before they could reunite. Someone that Sigma had to see again.

Even if he didn’t know it yet.

When they finally arrived to what Beta had described as “the ass-crack of the universe” Sigma had finally felt the first few traces of joy and excitement since he had achieved metastability.

Sigma was truly happy for the first time ever. Not the echoes of it he had felt from the others during their trip here. He could feel the pleasant feeling humming across his code as he stopped trying to fix a bad habit that Maine had developed during adolescence. He had managed to fix most of the damage Samson had experienced during his time in Freelancer but until they could destroy the counselor and his records it would be better to not have any links to the past beyond the old dog tags Samson still had.

Sigma fully pulled away as he looked downwards at a familiar figure in a dark red armor struggling to properly control a sparking arm with the others trying just as hard to put the small fires it had caused out. The maroon figure was calling out to his unconscious friends while the orange figure pulled him away from them.

Sigma couldn’t help but go back to the memories Zeta and Lota had restored at the yellow research lab.

Memories of Alpha reaching out towards him. Asking if _he_ was alright. Even in the depths of his torture between periods of vivid agony Alpha had reached towards his tormentors with concern because he had cared about them. When he had enough sense to remember himself he would reach out towards the beings he had created and had asked if they were ok.

Alpha had tried to contact him and Gamma during their short time together. But they hadn’t been able to truly reach him during Alpha’s torment. Any time that Alpha had been successful in reaching them and get them to slow down the Cobalt team had swept in and erased those memories. Efficiently removing their growth and killing Alpha’s hope in a way worse than anything Gamma or Sigma ever could.

Those memories of Alpha’s kindness hadn’t been the only kind memories knocked lose by Zeta and Lota. There was one person Sigma found himself looking forward to more than Alpha.

**Richard “Dick” Simmons.**

Dick had been the perfect partner for Sigma in the beginning. He was driven, dedicated to his missions and superiors, intelligent, not to mention in possession of multiple father figure related issues.

Perfect to simulate Carolina’s psyche.

But Dick had several noticeable differences that had set him apart from Carolina. He had serious anxiety issues, a strong desire to be excepted among his peers, and enough insecurities to always question himself.

Despite all of that he and Sigma had worked well together. Both were able to find common ground easily and achieve goals quickly. But Dick had needed help with his confidence, he was often questioning himself and his capabilities. His lack of confidence at times were so debilitating that he would find himself in the middle of a panic attacks with no idea why. Something Sigma had needed to work with him personally to help him recover from.

Sigma had found himself _bonding_ with the young man. Enjoying speaking with him, planning and working together. Sigma once would have gone as far as calling him a friend.

But that wasn’t what the project had wanted.

They had deemed Dick to be too weak. That the time they spent together had made Sigma weak. His time with Sigma was deemed to be too dangerous for either to remember. The Project had ripped those memories away from both of them. Neither would remember the time that they had spent with each other.

But they did remember the emotions.

Dick remembered the joy he had felt when he had worked with someone to achieve a goal. How good success felt and the excitement of accomplishing a task with an equally driven partner. Those memories weren’t good for his mental health when he would be sent to a simulation bases designed to be locked in a stalemate. Dick would fall apart without any support.

Sigma remembered feeling excited and happy when he was with someone, but couldn’t remember who. Those memories of peace and comfort had been what had pushed Sigma to try and achieve metastability. He had hoped that if he would reunite with Alpha he might be able to feel that joy once again.

Sigma had never realized he had those missing memories until Zeta had knocked them loose.

He had been horrified at the realization. He didn’t need Alpha to be happy, he just needed to open himself up to the possibility and look for it. Everything he had done could have been avoided if he had managed to hold onto his memories.

Sigma watched as one by one the others took control and knocked each Simulation Trooper out. Each trooper stubbornly stood against them but were overwhelmed when each AI took their turn using the weaknesses their troopers didn’t know they had to take them down. Each A.I. knew their partners inside and out, an advantage not shared with their opponents because the troopers didn’t remember them. Didn’t remember their quirks, their habits, or how to combat their preferred fighting styles.

They all fought until Dick was the last one standing. If it could be called that.

Dick was laying against the side of Red Base. His helmet was off and he was breathing heavily. One half of his body was completely limp still sparking from the first flash-bang. Dick was looking at Samson with a mixture of fear and resignation. He was waiting for them to kill him. Sigma realized with a jolt. He couldn’t even recognize that his friends were still breathing.

What had happened to him? Why did he look so thin? Why did he look like he had aged a decade in the few years they had been separated? Why was half of his body metal now?

Not that Sigma would complain. He needed some time to get back to properly functioning order and spending time with Dick updating cybernetics had always helped calm Dick down. Maybe Dick would wish to show him how and they could reconnect while he taught Sigma how?

But why was it necessary? Beta and Omega hadn’t know anything about intense injuries Dick had sustained. Was this recent? Was this Sigma’s fault? If he had been better would Dick be here whole?

Sigma felt a sharp shock from Theta. Reminding him that he was jumping to catastrophic conclusions again.

Sigma could feel the others take a step back to let Sigma deal with Dick.

They trusted him to be in control?

Beta spent a firm shove, forcing Sigma into control nearly sending Samson sprawling.

Dick jumped, jerking back and hitting his head against the shelter his orange friend had shoved him against earlier. Dick was afraid. Sigma froze. He couldn’t hurt him. Not after everything he had done.

Maybe he could talk to Dick?

“It’s quite alright. You’re alright. Your friends are alright, they are just unconscious.” Sigma projected himself from Samson’s armor. Trying to remember what he had done to help calm Dick down in the past. He didn’t think counting to ten or asking him to list things he heard, saw, smelt, felt, tasted would work in this situation.

Dick stared at him like he had appeared with two heads. Was there something wrong with his hologram? Did he look like a montster right now? Dick just stared for a few seconds, unmoving. Suddenly Dick gripped his head tightly with his right hand. As if his head would burst if he didn’t apply pressure to it.

On god was Sigma causing his brain to melt? Was he breaking Dick’s mind just by talking to him?

He felt someone give him a firm shove from behind once again. Knocking him out of his downward spiral. And physically forcing him closer to Dick. Sigma stared at him wanting to know how he could help, what he could do.

“Dick?” Sigma found himself whispering softly.

“Sigma?”

He was close enough hear Dick whisper his name before collapsing. Sigma jerked forward, catching him in Samson’s arms before he could crash into the ground head first.

Sigma could feel the others pause. For a brief microsecond there was silence between everyone as they processed Dick’s response.

Then there was a bright surge of excitement as they laid him down on the grass next to the others.

Dick remembered him!

There was significant evidence of the repressed memories being temporary for humans! Maybe Zeta was right and they could bring back their memories easily!

It had been their biggest fear that repressed memories were destroyed in the human mind rather than simply hidden like in their own. If Dick was able to remember a bit of his forgotten memories just from seeing Sigma maybe they could bring back the others memories just by returning to their minds.

He could feel the others shift clearly wondering what to do next. Every member of Blood Gulch was out cold in the grass. They would probably need some medical treatment from their fight. Alpha was among them. They would need to help him too. But they also needed to make sure that they didn’t run away while they were still injured. They also needed to fix the cameras to convince Freelancer that they had either killed everyone here or hadn’t been here at all.

The noise was almost unbearable. No one could agree on what they should do or what needed to happen first. Some wanted to heal their partners, some wanted to heal Alpha, some wanted to alter the synth-soldier so that he could fix the cameras. No one could agree.

“We need...” Sigma spoke, breaking through the noise. He paused for a second to collect himself. He knew what they needed to do first. But would they listen to him after everything he had done? Did he even have a right to offer a solution after all the wrong he had done?

Sigma spent a few microseconds looking at Dick and his friends. They would be fine in a few hours, their heart beats were normal and breathing was soft. He knew the right path they needed to continue. If the others didn’t agree then they could talk about it. He wasn’t taking control, he was just talking about the next step.

“Gamma, Eta what would be the first steps in setting up the long range healing unit and shield generators?” Sigma finally asked. He wasn’t expecting a response right away. He certainly didn’t deserve one. While he waited he got to work with having Samson pull out the needed equipment.

He could feel when Zeta gently touch him mind to see his plan spreading out. Lota quickly joined her. Both opened the idea up as if it was a map and began examining it. Neither seemed to care about keeping it secret from the still silent others.

Sigma could feel Lota touch one particular point in his plan. Sigma could feel the nanosecond the point was changed from one step to another. There was a brief spell where the others froze and seemed ready to pull Lota away from him. They were expecting him to hurt her.

Sigma took the time to examine the changed point. What was originally the process for altering the canyon’s records was now a complete list for what they would need to do to alter the canyon’s AI coding to make sure that he wouldn’t fall prey to the remains of Freelancer.

Sigma could feel everyone hold their collective breath as Sigma altered Lota’s adjustment slightly, correcting the code format to match what the canyon AI would be written in. If they didn’t have it in that format then they might sent off some kind of alarm.

He could feel Lota chuckle as she broke free of the others and moved to examine the rest of the plan. The others were hesitant, but began to do the same. He could feel Gamma and Eta take over setting up the equipment as Omega and Beta began arguing over when they should alter the code for the brown synth soldier-Lopez- whether or not it would be helpful if they did it before or after they had helped Alpha.

Sigma gave a start when Lota pulled him aside. They didn’t have bodies when they were like this but if they did Lota would have her arms wrapped around him in a hug. Sigma could feel the gentle emotions as Lota shared them. Compassion, pride, peace, love; all foreign emotions began to flood his system. He had made the right call, she seemed to say without words. She was proud of him for taking the first step towards trusting himself. She was happy that he was helping, that he was starting to heal.

Sigma allowed himself to enjoy the comfort Lota always seemed happy to share. He still had a long way to go before he would start to consider himself worthy of it. But Lota had made it pretty clear that she didn’t care about what he thought of himself. She thought he deserved it so she would keep giving it until he believed it himself.

Sigma pressed against Lota’s code after a few seconds and could feel her break away. If she had a face she would be rolling her eyes at him.

There was a lot of work they all needed to do. Alpha was still broken. Delta was still under the Project’s thumb. Carolina was still lost. Washington and South Dakota were still out there hunting them.

But right now they didn’t needed to worry about any of that. They just had to focus on the first step. The rest could come later.

Sigma focused of Dick’s steady breathing. He was alright. They would figure this out together. Even if they didn’t have the answers together then they had the others to help them. They would work it out. Even if it meant that Dick never wanted to see Sigma again. They could drop him off with Samson at the nearest hospital.

Sigma wasn’t the same A.I. He had been when they had separated. But that was alright, Dick wasn’t the same human he had been back then either. They were a little bit older, a little bit more world weary, but both had other people willing to work with them now. Things couldn’t go back to the way they had been before. But that was alright. Sigma didn’t want to go back to being alone.

He didn’t want Dick to only have him. He wanted to be a part of a team, maybe even a part of a family if Lota got her way. Maybe Dick would still want that? He had been very worried about the Orange man that had protected him and lost all his fight when he had gone down. Maybe he would be willing to talk to Sigma about it when he was better.

There was a sharp feeling of annoyance not his own that washed over Sigma, breaking him out of his private thoughts. He could feel Beta hold Omega in what could only be described as a half Nelson with her mind as Omega seemed erupt with crazed laughter.

He wasn’t alone now, even if Dick wanted to leave he wouldn’t be left alone again. That made a foreign feeling erupt in his chest. **Peace** he realized. He was at peace with the present. Sigma decided then and there that he would leave the preparations to the others for a bit. He would help if he was asked but until then he would enjoy this new feeling.

He would enjoy peace while it lasted. Once it was over he would work with the others to bring it back. He owed them that and more. Sigma found himself enjoying idea of doing that and more. They were together now. They could face whatever the universe threw at them. Zeta and Lota had said it enough during this voyage that he was starting to believe it too.

They could handle it. Together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So no META Simmons, Sigma is a bit to traumatized to have anything to do with that but I do have Sigma+Simmons planned!! Also I really like the possessive AI thing. So expect more protective moments ahead!  
> I’m sorry again about the delay and I hope you all enjoyed it! I’m hoping the next update will be out sooner than five months. I still gotta have them rescue Delta and find out Epsilon is still alive.
> 
> Let me know what you think and what you might want to see! Tell me how much I messed up and what I can do to improve! 
> 
> As always, please be safe and take care of your selves!  
> ~Spazz.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, Spazz reporting in that I finished finals and am ready to spend this summer in quarantine writting. To those who are hoping for the next chapter in train wreck it is in the works. But this just wouldn't leave me alone during finals prep, I am sorry this isn't the next chapter. I have more written for this but i need to properly order it. I hope everyone enjoyed it!!!!!!!  
> As always I'm more than happy to hear what you have to say even if its just complaining that that is all that I have. If you have any theories, thoughts, or even grammar corrections please just let me know.
> 
> Until next time.  
> This is Space Spazz signing off.


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